TY - JOUR
T1 - A Telecollaboration Project on Giving Online Peer Feedback
T2 - Implementing a Multilateral Virtual Exchange during a Pandemic
AU - Ennis, Michael Joseph
AU - Verzella, Massimo
AU - Montanari, Silvia
AU - Sendur, Agnieszka M.
AU - Pissarro, Marieta Simeonova
AU - Kaiser, Staci
AU - Wimhurst, Andrew
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank all of our contacts at UNICollaboration for their input, support, and feedback at every stage of designing and implementing our the TEP component of this project, namely: Francesca Helm, Ana Beaven, Lorenza Bacino, Phillip Moecklinghoff, Rianne ten Veen, Sabine McKinnon, and Rita Koris.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 National Research University Higher School of Economics. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12
Y1 - 2021/12
N2 - Telecollaboration, also called virtual exchange or online intercultural exchange, is a form of collaborative learning whereby language learners in different locations engage in computer-mediated communication to complete tasks online. There is ample evidence that telecollaboration promotes the acquisition of language skills, intercultural competence, and digital literacies. Challenges faced implementing virtual exchanges include differences in time zones, learning objectives, academic calendars, and cultural attitudes. The present article describes a case of a multilateral telecollaboration project based on the facilitated dialogue model involving four institutions-two in Europe and two in the United States-that was designed to prepare students for the experience of giving online peer feedback on collaborative writing assignments. Our initial goal was to explore the challenges students would face and the benefits they would receive from a complex telecollaboration project involving multiple institutions and two task sequences: 1) input and reflection on giving and receiving peer feedback, 2) completion of the collaborative writing task to be peer reviewed. However, new challenges and opportunities emerged after the switch to emergency e-learning and remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying upon multiple data sources-including correspondence, observations, class discussions, surveys, reflective writing, and information stored in virtual learning environments-our methods of data collection involved convenience sampling, while data analysis was predominantly descriptive. Our results demonstrate that even during a global pandemic, students and instructors face similar logistical challenges and reap similar benefits as has been reported in the literature. Yet our experience also reveals the resiliency of telecollaboration in the face of extreme disruption as well as the potential to exploit virtual exchange to develop learning strategies-such as methods for giving and receiving peer feedback-and meta-awareness of how language is used in the real-world-such as the implications of English as a lingua franca.
AB - Telecollaboration, also called virtual exchange or online intercultural exchange, is a form of collaborative learning whereby language learners in different locations engage in computer-mediated communication to complete tasks online. There is ample evidence that telecollaboration promotes the acquisition of language skills, intercultural competence, and digital literacies. Challenges faced implementing virtual exchanges include differences in time zones, learning objectives, academic calendars, and cultural attitudes. The present article describes a case of a multilateral telecollaboration project based on the facilitated dialogue model involving four institutions-two in Europe and two in the United States-that was designed to prepare students for the experience of giving online peer feedback on collaborative writing assignments. Our initial goal was to explore the challenges students would face and the benefits they would receive from a complex telecollaboration project involving multiple institutions and two task sequences: 1) input and reflection on giving and receiving peer feedback, 2) completion of the collaborative writing task to be peer reviewed. However, new challenges and opportunities emerged after the switch to emergency e-learning and remote teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying upon multiple data sources-including correspondence, observations, class discussions, surveys, reflective writing, and information stored in virtual learning environments-our methods of data collection involved convenience sampling, while data analysis was predominantly descriptive. Our results demonstrate that even during a global pandemic, students and instructors face similar logistical challenges and reap similar benefits as has been reported in the literature. Yet our experience also reveals the resiliency of telecollaboration in the face of extreme disruption as well as the potential to exploit virtual exchange to develop learning strategies-such as methods for giving and receiving peer feedback-and meta-awareness of how language is used in the real-world-such as the implications of English as a lingua franca.
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U2 - 10.17323/JLE.2021.11914
DO - 10.17323/JLE.2021.11914
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85122182245
SN - 2411-7390
VL - 7
SP - 66
EP - 82
JO - Journal of Language and Education
JF - Journal of Language and Education
IS - 4
ER -